The Arkansas Tech University (ATU) Golden Suns will hit the national championship greens for the first time in school history as a team in the 2014 Division II Women’s Golf National Championship Finals at 8:30 a.m. today.

ATU reached the national championship with a third-place finish in the 2014 Division II Women’s Super Region 3 Championship in Lake Elmo, Minn.

“I’m not going to say I expected this,” Golden Suns head coach Amy White said. “But we’ve known all season it was possible. It was one of the things that fueled their fire every day to work that much harder and do the best that they could. They knew it was in the realm of possibility.”

With three top-10 finishes spread across the season, ATU drove and chipped its way to the best season in program history — a No.1 regional ranking, 20th national ranking and five individual tournament championships.

“They really were focused about having a goal in mind and playing the best golf they possibly could all year,” White said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but in the end they wake up and go practice with a purpose. I think that’s been a difference maker this year.”

Among the ups and downs this year was competing against the weather, White said.

“It was a rough go,” she explained. “It was hard to get out and practice in the weather and it seemed like every competition we went to was either cold, or snowing or raining. It’s hard to keep a strong mental game through all of that. It’s one of the things we’ve focused on this year, more so than the physicality of things. We had a lot of mental practices, staying strong and working with the elements.”

Golden Suns junior Katie Surtevall, who participated in the national championship tournament as an individual last year, placed in the top-10 at the Women’s Super Region 3 Championship, along with Taylor Kline’s third place finish and Caroline’s 15th place tie to qualify for today’s tournament at Rock barn Golf and Spa in Conover, NC.

White said her three juniors — Kline, Surtevall and Megan Jeffery — were instrumental to the team’s success in terms of leadership.

“Those three combined all bring something different to the table,” she said. “they have taken (responsibility), on their own, to lead the rest of the team, which are freshmen. They know how I operate, they know how the team should operate. They’re like the tricep of this team. They understand what we’re trying to do and they’re the ones teaching and leading the younger players.

“We just talk all the time about playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played. We talk about not being greedy with the course. I tell them to take your chances when you can but to play it smart. They really bought into that and it’s really paying off for them.”